The Presidency has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to identify and prosecute individuals alleged to have assisted Adeyemi Adeniyi Matthew in the ongoing Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.

In a statement posted on X on Friday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said investigators must uncover the network of collaborators who allegedly enabled Adeniyi to operate a fictitious presidential agency.

Ajayi maintained that internal collaborators played a significant role in facilitating Adeniyi’s activities and were also involved in what he described as a smear campaign against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.

“What is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeniyi to get this far. That is precisely what investigators from the DSS, the Police, and the EFCC must now unravel.

“The criminal network within the affected institutions must be dismantled, and everyone found to have played a role should be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.

The presidential aide described Adeniyi as an “irredeemable con artist,” accusing him of exploiting public perceptions of corruption to deflect attention from his alleged activities.

“In Nigeria, the easiest and most believable allegation anyone can throw at a public officer is corruption. Once that accusation is thrown into the mix, the water is polluted, the lines are blurred, and everyone is kept busy arguing over distractions rather than the real issues.

“Matthew Adeniyi understands Nigerian public psychology, and he is exploiting it expertly to shield himself. He is an irredeemable con artist who is attempting to drag the name of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, into his criminal enterprise. The Chief of Staff is simply his last straw,” Ajayi stated.

He further urged security agencies to investigate how Adeniyi allegedly forged presidential appointment letters, operated 34 bank accounts in the names of non-existent government agencies, hosted foreign ambassadors, and opened a Central Bank account while presenting himself as the Director-General of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, a body the Presidency insists does not exist.